The present invention relates to switches. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of reassembling common switch interface frame transmissions.
Line cards are often used to process data on a network line. Each line card acts as an interface between a network and a switching fabric. The line card may convert the data set from the format used by the network to a format for processing. The line card also may perform necessary processing on the data set. This processing may include further translation, encryption, error checking, and the like. After processing, the line card converts the data set into a transmission format for transmission across the switching fabric.
The line card also allows a data set to be transmitted from the switching fabric to the network. The line card receives a data set from the switching fabric, processes the data set, and then converts the data set into the network format. The network format can be asynchronous transfer mode (ATM; Multiprotocol Over ATM, Version 1.0, July 1998) or a different format.
With a common switch interface (CSIX) format (Common Switch Interface Specification-L1, August 2000), data sets received from the network are transmitted through the switching fabric by dividing the data sets into segments and placing the segments in CSIX frames (c-frames). These c-frames are interleaved with c-frames containing other data sets. The ingress processors transmit these c-frames across the switching fabric to the egress processors. The egress processors need a quick and efficient method for collecting and recompiling the data set segments.